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Republican Mike Kopp will seek a second term representing South Jeffco in the Colorado Senate, citing the need to continue to press for an array of state reforms.

Kopp, of Ken Caryl, is hosting a campaign kickoff event from 4 to 6 p.m. Sept. 12 at Clement Park.

“I’m a reform guy,” Kopp said. “I follow the reform leadership model, and I assume that less and more nimble government is a better form of government, and there’s a lot of work to be done in that area.”

In just two short weeks, it will have been 10 years since 3-year-old Jaryd Atadero went missing on a hike about 60 miles west of Fort Collins.

Allyn Atadero, the boy’s father and a South Jeffco schoolteacher, says his son’s memory and Recreational Safety Awareness Week — the second week of September — drives him to help other families avoid the same fate. The week-long observance, in its second year, culminates in a large event at the Denver Aquarium to raise awareness for the Colorado Outdoor Recreation Search and Rescue Card.

Jeffco health officials are setting up a distribution network for the H1N1 flu vaccine, anticipating a large demand for the shots this fall.

"We're planning for a high level of demand for the vaccine," said county health department director Dr. Mark Johnson. "What actually happens, and what the demand actually turns out to be, will depend on how hard the flu hits or the perception of a shortage. We're planning that it's going to be big."

A report of a man with a gun forced the temporary lockdown of three South Jeffco schools Sept. 4.

Jefferson County sheriff’s spokesman Jim Shires said that Falcon Bluffs Middle School, Mortensen Elementary School and Collegiate Academy were put on temporary lockdown about 12:30 p.m. Sept. 4, but restrictions on all three have since been lifted.

The start of a new school year is often bittersweet, as students are happily reunited with friends but brutally separated from summer’s vacation from work and worry.

Students at Front Range Christian School acted out this dichotomy Aug. 29, reveling in the fourth annual Front Range Christian School Town Fair while pausing to wield a sledgehammer to vent a little frustration on a hapless automobile.

While the state park system valued hosting the Rocky Mountain Balloon Festival at Chatfield State Park every year, it couldn’t extend any financial breaks to prevent the demise of the financially ailing event, a parks spokeswoman says.

"We loved the event," parks spokeswoman Deb Frazier said last week. “It was spectacular. Certainly the event is sorely missed."

A symbol of peace has taken root near the front doors of Columbine High School.

A Tree of Peace, provided by the Colorado Association of School Resource Officers, was planted Aug. 29 by students and law officers, a decade after two teenagers fatally shot 12 fellow students and a teacher at the school.

"It's a great symbol," Columbine senior Roman Richardson said as he watched the planting. Richardson, 17, remembers watching news coverage of the shootings and recalls his mother being afraid.

The occupants of a car that led police on a rush-hour chase the morning of Aug. 26 may be tied to a series of South Jeffco mail thefts.

State Patrol Trooper David Hall says a trooper attempted to stop the speeding car on West Quincy Avenue. The car sped off, heading onto C-470 toward West Bowles Avenue. Another trooper put stop sticks in the car’s path, but the driver swerved to avoid them, crossing the center median and crashing into an oncoming car. There were no injuries in either vehicle.